MOUNT VERNON – Parks Department employees are in the process of opening Hiawatha Water Park, draining and cleaning pools. Most of the staff have been working to get the pool to the point where it can be turned over to Columbus Pool Management to run.
The gardening group at the Community Garden at Arch Park has been supplied with materials, including aggregates and dirt. The gardeners are making an accessible gardening area, Public Works Director Tom Hinkle said.
Bathrooms at city parks are still being cleaned and painted inside and out. Memorial and Phillips Parks are finished.
“We have already begun the war against vandalism in the parks’ restrooms,” Hinkle said. “Unfortunately, we’ve already been hit on the bathrooms that we've repainted. We’ve already been graffitied.”
He said it’s an ongoing, everyday maintenance situation that park staff must deal with.
Two new security lights were installed by AEP at Shellmar Park. One is over the parking lot and one casts light on the picnic shelter and somewhat on the playground area.
Three new concrete pads for picnic tables have been installed at Memorial Park.
“A big thank you to Colby Clippinger and the Knox County Career Center students for their work on this project,” Hinkle said. “The city supplied the material, and the students did all of the work.”
The students prepped the area for the pads, removing the soil and setting up drains before pouring the concrete. The old wooden tables have been removed and will be replaced with picnic tables constructed with sturdier materials.
Crews also replaced four old wooden park benches around the Rotary Playground at Riverside Park with new metal benches that are rubber coated just like those seen around downtown, he said.
Drainage, traffic light projects completed
Hinkle said the drainage project at the intersection of Edgewood and Marita was expected to be completed by the end of the week. Crews replaced 30 feet of pipe under Marita Drive, installed one catch basin on the southeast corner of the intersection and installed 20 feet of pipe running parallel to Marita and 20 feet parallel to Edgewood. The project started two weeks ago, he said.
The intersection of Gambier and Liberty and Rogers is fully functioning again. The traffic light is back up and operational, including radar activation. It will be an estimated four months until the new traffic light and equipment will be delivered to the city.
Hinkle said the tree that caused the damage to the intersection has been removed.
Street Department crews inspected pedestrian signals throughout the city, checking all lights and buttons, including the rapid flashing beacons. He said they try to do a complete inspection at least once a month. The public usually informs them if a light goes out, but not always when an activation button isn’t working.
More work was done to repair streets after water digs with asphalt. Whatever asphalt is left over after completing a repair is used to fill potholes. The department hasn’t started the “every street” portion of its pothole patching yet, he said.
Grading the city’s alleys is in full swing for the most part, and dependent on the weather. Street sweeping also continues.
Seasonal workers trim weeds, landscape at cemetery
The Cemetery Department had its seasonal help begin weed trimming and landscaping needs.
The department has been very busy with interments, with quite a few this week and several on next week’s schedule.
Utilities Department approaches full staffing
Utilities Director Aaron Reinhart said the department is close to fully staffed. They welcomed two new staff members. April Brady joined the utility billing office, making it fully staffed. Brody McGarvey joined distribution and collections, also making it fully staffed.
A civil service test will be held at the end of May for the last position vacant, an operations and maintenance 1 tech. Reinhart said the date for the test will be forthcoming.
Water bills were taken to the post office on Thursday, so residents should begin to receive them on Saturday for this billing cycle.
The water treatment plant is in the process of updating its lab and procedures. He said they are still looking at replacing aging lime silos.
Next week, they will upgrade the telemetry. The hardware is in place and being installed.
“We’re just modernizing the communication with the pump stations and other assets where most of it is original to the construction of the plant,” City Engineer Brian Ball said.
Reinhart said they are entering disinfection season that starts May 1 and runs through Oct. 31.
Wastewater Superintendent Sherry Fair has done an excellent job, he said. She has been conducting updates in the lab and for standard operating procedures. She has also supervised the installation of new equipment and trained personnel.
They held a kickoff meeting for phosphorous reduction that’s required by the Ohio EPA. A plan will be formulated.
Residents in the Dan Emmett Elementary School area may notice crews are out shooting video of sewer lines, Reinhart said.
It’s part of a bigger project on Mansfield Avenue north and east of the school, Ball said.
“We have federal funds to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program to replace sanitary sewer, water lines, sidewalks, curbs, gutters and parks equipment in that neighborhood, so our folks are out doing the preliminary work,” he said. “And then we also have Richland Engineering Survey Company.”
The preliminary work is being completed this summer, with construction expected to begin in the summer of 2024.
Engineering Department evaluates stormwater projects bid
The Engineering Department received one bid for its 2023 stormwater improvement projects, Ball said. Smith Paving & Excavating from Norwalk, Ohio bid $833,704. He said it’s slightly above the engineer’s estimate, but that was made 40 days ago.
Two bid openings were scheduled on Thursday. One was for the Catherine Street CDBG project to rebuild the brick street and all city utilities and sidewalk, he said. The other bid opening is for North Sandusky Street’s sidewalk on the west side in another CDBG project.
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